ground zero will always be sacred ground. but with the rise of 1 world trade center, it is also a symbol of america's resilience and strength. i'm wolf blitzer in pore piers morgan. america's resilience and strength. i'm wolf blitzer in for piers morgan. ac 360 is next. we begin with breaking news on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks. they are under attack by radical forces and someone in benghazi is dead. the state department says it doesn't have independent confirmation of that death. an eyewitness says that it began with an islamic radical group showing up to protest a group they called anti-muslim. the group is on consulate grounds.

in cairo they were under protest with fund mentalist protesters camped out just outside the american embassy walls, outraged by the same video. they stormed the compounds and replacing them with black flags and islamic indescription on it all. embassy staffers left before the protest. a marine contingent on the grounds. and egyptian security forces nearby. cnn is on the ground in cairo and tripoli. and mona is a journalist on the phone from cairo and we have fran townsend, a cnn national security contributor and a member of the external advisory committee and she visited with libya with her employer, and i want to start with ian. you saw hundreds storming the u.s. embassy in cairo. who are these protesters exactly? how widespread is this anger? and what is the situation with the americans in the embassy

since a group of marines are there? >> reporter: well, anderson, the marine who is are there are stationed in part of the diplomatic mission to secure the embassy. one of the largest contingents of marines protecting a u.s. embassy in the world. but these protesters were predominantly islamist. they say it insults the profits, it called him a womanizer, a homosexual, someone who molests children, things that muslims would find offensive. so there was roughly 1,000 people out there. going and we saw a handful of people storm the embassy, perimeter, they tore down the american flag. security forces on the site. they did show up to separate the protesters from the embassy, but

it was a bit late, later after the protesters were able to get in there. that's a question a lot of people are asking, is why the security forces didn't come soon enough. and egyptian officials are also right now trying to figure out why they didn't have the response that they said they would have. >> i want to go to benghazi in libya to jamana, who is there. you are in tripoli, you have been talking to a source in benghazi, where this person working in the cons late was just confirmed killed. what is the latest you are hearing on the situation? >> reporter: well, according to the eyewitness, up to an hour ago he described the situation there as a front line libyan security forces open gauged in heavy clashes with an armed group. that is a radical militant group based in eastern libya and reported rocket-propelled grenades hitting the consulate building. libyan army troops were deployed

and roads were blocked off by military vehicles. there are conflicting reports on what the situation is there right now and the libyan government official is telling us that the building has been secured by the libyan military, but according to this eyewitness, members of the group had stormed the cops lot building and taken over the building and were celebrating. there were condemnations issued, there are calls on social media sites for more protest here. >> you were there last week and concern about the deteriorating security situation, add this to the back drop of what's going on in egypt, how big of a deal is this? >> oh, anderson, we should be very clear, one such breach of an embassy walls or consulate on any given day would be tremendous news. it's very rare. americans remember the takeover of the consulate in tehran in 1979.

this is a huge event if one of these happened. the fact that two of them happened on the same day, that is the 9/11 anniversary, where americans are remembering those that we lost, you have to ask yourself, what -- what are american officials trying to understand about this, and whether or not that these are related. this notion it's about a movie, anderson, there have been calls for the protests in cairo. this has been -- the egyptian officials understood there was a protest planned. how did this day get picked? and how did it wind up in two places? and to have lost an american, i think we shouldn't underestimate the significance of this. >> fran, you're basically saying you believe these were coordinated attacks in some way. what's so interesting is that this video is not new to you two. it was probably posted back in

july. so you see a -- some sort of a hand of organization here? >> well, i do think -- look, this group is as our colleague reported, this is an extremist group in libya. there have been increasing concerns about al qaeda presence in the east of libya, in -- just near a city called durna, durna is to the east of benghazi, and i think, look, the american officials will be looking to see -- we've not heard any confirmation that these are in any way related. it's just that the two very significant events, in the same day, it would be natural that you will be looking now -- american officials will look to see whether or not they can find a connection between these two events. >> and, fran, you pointed out an american was killed. we vice president been able to confirm it was an american, it was just somebody at the u.s. cons late, an official at the u.s. consulate. we are trying to find out more about that person.

ian, you watch ed the video the are protesting. do we know who made it, where it comes from? >> what we're hearing, anderson, is that there were a couple coptic christians that come from egypt, a minority sect there in egypti egyptian, and this is why there is outrage toward the united states government. is -- or the united states, because protesters are blaming the u.s. for allowing this video to come out and they are saying the u.s. is accountable and responsible for the fact that they allowed a video like this to go out there and to be spread out there. so that's why these protesters are -- are definitely angry and directing their anger toward the united states. >> mona, being in cairo, why do you think this is happening now? who benefits? >> well, that's a great question, anderson. we're in a stage where the revolution that began last year for freedoms of all kinds is

still very much not completed and a big concern for many people in egypt today is that these terrible events will be used by the government to justify a return to emergency law. we still don't have a constitution in egypt, we don't have a parliament in egypt. our president and prime minister have been missing in action all day. they have made no official statements. so you basically have a fringe element that claims to represent us and it doesn't on a day and a time when egyptians are still very much trying to decide which way or direction, or which way our revolution is going. freedom of expression must be a right, as is freedom to protest. but the question is here, why was today chosen? why was the protest taking place at the u.s. embassy? who called for this protest? as we heard earlier, this has been on youtube for several weeks now. so this -- you know, we have to

think back to the time of the danish cartoons which were published in october 2005, but the protests against them didn't start until january 2006, and much of those -- many of those protests what were i called manufactured outrage that was used for political gain by both regimes and islamic groups. and what we don't want to happen in egypt now is for us to be struck by an extreme right-wing element, and a president and his government, which i consider right-wing, composed of -- well, the president is from the muslim brotherhood movement, and we don't want to be stuck between these two. because our revolution, for social justice and liberty, not to go out to the american embassy and bring down the flag. >> fran, just from a security standpoint had the egyptian government forces, military forces wanted to stop protesters from scaling over the walls, i mean, they could have done that, just as they could have stopped people from attacking people in

tahrir scare had they not just stood by and watched them. >> absolutely, anderson. the protest today was not a surprise. we've heard from sources that there were warnings about this days ago. and so if this -- if egyptian officials in the military, security officials were on notice about this, we've got to ask ourselves, why weren't they there before the protest began? you know, pro-positioned to ensure they could keep a safe distance from the embassy and protect the embassy. but this is not the first time the egyptian security officials have failed to do that. it wasn't that long ago when the walls of the israeli embassy in cairo was also breached. so, look, there are real questions about egyptian officials' commitment to protect diplomatic establishments in cairo. >> we'll continue to follow this, let us know what you think. we're on facebook, on twitter. up next, a reporter who says

he's seen evidence that warnings of the 9/11 attack were downplayed n part because some in the bush administration believed al qaeda was bluffing, the real threat was saddam hussein. you can imagine those arguments are causing an uproar. the author who made that argument is joining us, so does ari flesher. be right back. ♪ ♪ i can do anything ♪ i can do anything today ♪ i can go anywhere ♪ i can go anywhere today ♪ la la la la la la la

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welcome back. tonight a controversy that touches a very raw nerve. tonight 11 years after the terror attacks on 9/11 there are still two beams of light to remind people of what fell. there are two memorial fountains cut into the ground to remind people of what once stood on the spot with nearly 2,800 people died. 16 acres in lower manhattan being rebuilt as office space, museum, and memorial. whatever is built, though, no one will never forget, not here in lower manhattan or shanksville, pennsylvania, or the pentagon where@obama and top commanders laid a wreath this morning. the legacy of 9/11 is still being felt on memory, not as history but as current events. the war launched to avenge attacks still being fought. the wounds include real, physical, life-changing injuries. when a story comes out that devil delves into whether these

entire 11 years of anguish might have been avoided in some way it obviously touches a nerve. the fact that it came out on the 9/11 anniversary, in the heat of an election campaign have led some to call it a political hatchet job. it is not our intention to look at this through a partisan lens, only to lay out the claims and counter claim that is we know. the story in a nutshell centerson what president bush and other top officials knew before this unforgettable moment when the president was informed of the attacks. kurt eickenwald lays it down in a "the new york times" op-ed, entitled "the deafness before the storm." it was published today. it was dated august 6, 2001, entitled "bin laden determined to strike the u.s.." it was the only such document to be declassified. as you remember, the bush administration maintained that title notwithstanding, this was not a clear-cut warning of a strike in the united states about to happen. >> well, august 6th is most certainly an historical document that says here is how you might

think about al qaeda. a warning is when you have something that suggests that an attack is impending. and we decide not have, on the united states, threat information that was in any way specific enough to suggest that something was coming in the united states. >> well, former secretary of state and national security adviser continue leez za condoleezza rice there. eichenwald has come to an inescapable conclusion that the administration's reactions to what mr. bush was told in the weeks before that infamous briefing reflected significantly more negligence than has been disclosed. those were his words. full disclosure we have not seen of what he says he has seen, he'll join us in a minute. we know that there were 40 other mentions of osama bin laden and

al qaeda in presidential daily briefs prior to 9/11. but he does go further than that and says direct warnings about al qaeda attacking the u.s. began in the spring of 2001. by may 1st, the cia total of a report "a group presently in the united states" was planning a terrorist operation. the june 22nd daily brief reported that al qaeda strikes could be "imminent." and this tracks with the recollection of former anti terrorism official richard clark who served in both the clinton and bush administrations and wrote a book sharply about his experiences. he told nbc news about a june 21st meeting he sat in on with cia director george tenet and condoleezza advisor's office and i've used the phrase to describe the warnings as "he has his hair on fire." he was about as excited as i've ever seen him. and he said something is going to happen. as he later told "60 minutes" and as the bush administration denies, the warnings were then ignored by then president bush.

>> he ignored it. he ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11. maybe. we'll never known. >> that is sharply disputed by members of the bush administration but it does track with what mr. eickenwald says. kurt eickenwald joins us. and also with us is ari fletcher. there's no way to make sure the bush administration could have prevented the attacks but you also use the word negligence to describe their actions. how do you reconcile the daylight between those two statements? in rereading the 9/11 commission report today, there were a number of warnings and a number of advisories that went out, a lot for overseas posting, for the u.s. military, for u.s. embassies, u.s. ambassadors but also some for the united states as well. >> there is a huge difference between putting the government on high alert and saying we're going to put out some warnings. the last time, prior to the summer of 2001, the last time

there had been anything on the scale of what they were seeing at that period, was in december of 1999. and at that point, the entire government went on high alert. you had -- in fact, the counter terrorism center at the cia was told, blow through your budget and they spent everything they had from january through september in about 15 days. and multiple terrorist attacks were stopped. including one in the united states. we don't remember much about this because everything was stopped. now, was the bush administration -- did they have enough information to take the same kind of action? all of the people who were involved in the 1999 intelligence gathering and in the gathering in the summer of 2001 tell me they were virtually identical. it was the same level of severity. >> ari flesher, i want to bring

you in here. you have two problems with this. a, on a factual basis with the allegations being made and the details of it. and also the publishing of this on this day. >> yeah, anderson, that's exactly right. one, september 11th is the day we should remember the victims, you know, i do not think it's appropriate on a day like this for somebody to leave out so many facts, attack one person, especially when the attack is so over-the-top partisan and we all know mr. eickenwald's politics are very rabidly anti-republican. i am surprised "the new york times" printed a piece like this today. it's just wrong to do it today. number two, if what he was saying is accurate, you would have thought the yinl commission picked up on it. they had access to every classified, top-secret document. to every presidential daily brief. they read them all and reached no such conclusion. a great distortion is in the summer of 2001, when the head of the cia said the system was blinking red, it was all about europe or asia.

that's -- >> that's simply untrue, ari. >> let him finish. >> let me read, this is the 9/11 commission report. and this is what they said about the warnings in the summer of 2001. we cannot say for certain whether those reports as dramatic as they were, related to the 9/11 attacks. the focus was abroad. and that's where action was taken, because that's where the intelligence led. >> but, ari, there were reports about actors within the united states, about people within the united states, already present within the united states. >> that's correct. and those reports have been prevalent since the late 1990s, there are also reports in the late 1990s about people in the united states, and i suspect that there are reports of people today in the united states. the issue is was there actionable intelligence? and this is frustrating go about intelligence. it's imprecise. nobody but anybody ever said that we have information that there is going to be hijackings of airplanes used to fly into buildings on september of 2011

or any other timeframe. none of that was the case. we have vague generalized reporting just as president clinton had a pbd, he had a pbd in 1998 saying that they would hijack aircraft in the united states. but mr. eickenwald only faults george bush. the 9/11 commission faulted president clinton, the cia and the department of justice. it was a much more context report than anything mr. eickenwald said in his reporting, and they never had the heart of what mr. eickenwald said, where there were other pdbs that this could have been stopped. >> in my 9/11 commission report, it said numerous actions were done overseas, far less domestically. and domestic agencies reported they didn't know what to do, according to the 9/11 commission report. >> that's true. because there wasn't the same kind of -- i want to address a number of thing that is ari just

said. number one, i want to point out his first approach was, attack the messenger. number two, i am quoting from presidential daily briefs. ari is not coming in here and saying, oh, i have other information. i don't know what he's saying. is he saying i'm lying and making them up? ari, this is what it says. you can hold up the 9/11 -- i allowed you to speak. give me the same benefit. i'm kind of angry at ari today. the first thing he did was send out a tweet, calling me a 9/11 truther. meaning one of those people who says that george bush orchestrated 9/11, and that's the kind of garbage, the kind of empty-headed garbage that has prevented history from taking place here. i quoted from documents that are historical documents. the 9/11 commission did not quote from those documents, in fact, the 9/11 commission fought

to have the very pdbs that ari says they had, declassified. and the bush white house would not do it. that's fine. i'm not saying they should have. but for him to pretend they had this information and it was disclosed in the 9/11 report is simply false. >> kurt, one of the things you're saying in your article, which is not in the 9/11 commission report, is that you're saying based on you said people you talked to, neoconservatives within the administration, within the pentagon, basically pooh-poohed the threat domestically, saying it was basically disinformation put out to distract from the real threat, which was saddam hussein. >> well, actually not just me quoting people anonymously. there is a june 27th daily brief that i refer to, which is the cia's response, saying we not being fooled. i don't know the exact quote to the story.

we are not being fooled by bin laden. it's a real threat, they start laying out all of the reasons why. so you're talking about a circumstance in late june where there is an argument going on as to whether it's real or not. now -- >> ari, what about that? i'm just being reminded in the 9/11 commission report there's something about paul wolfowitz downplaying that. >> that's correct. that was in the 9/11 commission report and that was accurately cited. one person at the department of defense who said that the cia rejected that, no one at the white house accepted that. so it was one person who weighed in on that. but let me go back to the charges against me. i think this is just a cleaned up version of truthism. the heart of his charge is that george bush knew 9/11 was coming and neglected his duties and allowed it to happen. that's the cleaned up version of trutherism. and number two, when he writes a piece that doesn't go into what the 9/11 commission reported, that leaves out other fair criticisms to help improve the

system about other presidents and other branches of government, what you need to know is he wrote an op-ed where he wrote the republican party must be defeated in a crippling w way. that republicans are liars and severely unhinged. so you really have a rabid partisan who was able to use "the new york times" to further his anti-bush, anti-republican -- >> tell me one thing. if you are going to sit here and accuse me -- >> and that's why -- i think that's why he's come to a conclusion that nobody at the 9/11 commission came to. they had those pdbs. they had access to all of that information. maybe he's smarter and sharper than everybody on the 9/11 commission. i don't think so. >> kurt, go ahead, is this politics? >> absolutely not. ari, i'll go down two paths. number one, the 9/11 commission did not get the pdbs authorized for release, which means they could not refer to them. there were also many people on

the 9/11 commission who did not have the classification authority to look at the pdbs. number two, you want to make this all about politics. again, you want to attack the messenger. give me one fact. one brief i'm citing. i've worked at the disadvantage of having read them, which you haven't. >> kurt, it's your omissions. your omissions are a problem. >> i don't go into a lengthy description of what clinton did and what -- it wasn't a partisan attack. >> right. you only go into george bush. >> because it was about -- it was about what did the documented i obtained show. sorry, ari. if i obtained documents -- >> because you neglected the information in the 9/11 report that said what was missing when president clinton was in office. >> ari, that is why -- >> kurt, you were saying you were focusing basically on the

summer before 9/11 to show the drum beat that was occurring in those immediate months, is that right? >> i wasn't playing a game. it's like a child. it's like saying, well, billy did this, but bobby did that. it's not about that. it is about what did the documented i obtained and saw show? i'm not going to run around and say, gee, i have a news story, but ari flesher might be afraid that i'm not spinning it enough and i have to bring in clinton. could there be mistakes? absolutely. >> to the argument that you shouldn't have published on this day, what do you say? >> i say that i have spoken to far more family members and far more victims' families of the 9/11 attacks than ari has, and i will tell you, i've heard from four families today. >> you don't know that. >> i've heard from four families today thanking me. the last thing i've ever heard from them is, gee, we don't want to know what happened. these people starve for what happened. >> you didn't tell them what happened. you department tell them what happened.

>> give me one fact. one fact that isn't right, ari. you're not answering the question. >> exactly what i discussed before. the summer of 2001, as the 9/11 commission makes clear, the reporting we had that the 9/11 commission cited was about attacks abroad. that's why the system was blinking red in the summer of 2001. >> i will read -- >> i read the paragraph. >> anderson -- >> read him the may 1st -- >> ari, ari, you keep talking over me, but it's a lie. >> there were reports about actions within the united states, and my reading, and, again, just read a couple chapters before the interview. there's no doubt, the 9/11 says there are few specifics regarding time, place, method or target incurred. kurt, you don't dispute that. >> but this is -- again, one of the things i really want to point out here, one of the most

despicable things that was done in this is the -- the cia produced tons of information. tons of information. typical intelligence. it didn't say at 8:00 in the morning on 9/11 at the world trade center this is going to happen. intelligence isn't like that. and anybody who thinks it is, doesn't read intelligence. what you do have is enough information to act on, to go on alert, to do the kinds of things that were done in 1999. now i am not saying -- >> you're saying there should have been a higher level of alert give out domestically based on the information that was there and that even -- and that would have allowed lower-level people at agencies to connect dots more, based on local intelligence they have? >> let me throw in two stories, one thing referenced in the article and book. on july 9th, members of the counter terrorism center met in the basement of the cia to

discuss whether or not they should all put in for a transfer. the reason they did not, not because they felt like it, not because they were bored, but because they kept coming forward with this information and no action was being taken. not the action they thought should be taken. the suggestion went out and the lead person in the room said we can't get enough people in here, there aren't people qualified to do this, we're the only ones qualified to write this thing down. >> this is my beef here. this is the biased telling of a story. >> i'm sorry if you don't like what the intelligence agents say. >> don't interrupt. remember that. >> okay. >> in the late 1990s, people said they should quit their jobs in intelligence and defsz because we didn't take a shot at osama bin laden when we had a shot. >> absolutely. that's true. >> this is common second guessing that takes place. this came from the department of defense, which said one person, don't pay attention to it, that was rejected. so you hear this kind of thing all the time at federal

agencies, people aren't listening right now. >> ari either doesn't know what he's -- >> it will always be the case of people having those thoughts in government. >> i got to jump in to give you each a last comment. >> okay. ari is either willing to throw out information he has no idea what he's talking about or bottom line, one person said this thing about iraq and nobody cared. why did i read a presidential daily brief that had to deal with all of this? why did i speak to intelligence officials who said this was an enormous problem they have to overcome. every single time ari hears a fact he doesn't like, it's partisan. you want to say clinton messed up, clinton messed up, you got it. clinton messed up in ways you haven't even brought up, ways that aren't even public yet, read my book. but the reality is, i am writing about the documents i obtained. ari wants me to run off and say

i have to talk about democrats too. because my article, just because it's based on documents i obtained, cannot be about what happened. i am not a spin meister, he is, and he's not telling the truth. >> one final thought, and we got to go. >> i read the entire 9/11 commission report. >> so did iu, ari. >> i see how this is distorted. he wants to lead people to believe bush knew and didn't stop it. that's the fundamental argument he's making. >> that's what the intelligence agents say. >> it's a flawed report on the 9/11 commission report. no one else has done it, except the truthers. if there was evidence -- >> anderson, can i add -- >> we read about it in the 9/11 commission report -- >> can i add one thing? >> way over time. you just want to say you're not a truther. >> no, beyond that. i want to point out that again i never said george bush orchestrated this and we are here and ari still has not cited

a single thing in the article that was wrong. >> we got to go. we're way over time. thank you very much, gentlemen. we'll be right back. [ female announcer ] roam like the gnome this fall. and get outstanding deals with the travelocity fall hotel sale. you can save up to 40% on select hotels. so book your hotel now and save up to 40%. hurry, offer ends soon. book now at travelocity. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses, i looked at my options. then i got a medicare supplement insurance plan. [ male announcer ] if you're eligible for medicare, you may know it only covers about 80% of your part b medical expenses. the rest is up to you. call now and find out about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan,

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i'm isha sesay with breaking news. the state department has confirmed that an american consulate worker was killed in an attack in libya. an eyewitness says the attack began with a radical islamist group showing up to protest a anti-muslim. it started out peacefully and soon escalated. now we report one american is dead. foreign affairs reporter elise joins us now.

elise, what can you tell us? >> we were waiting for con fir nation that the state department notified this foreign affairs officer. and basically in a statement secretary of state clinton said that a lot of people fought to justify this behavior, this attack on the embassy as response to this internet material. but the u.s. makes clear that it really deplored any effort of an attempt to denigrate religion of others. there aren't necessarily militants at the gate, they are still very unsettled about what's going on and trying to secure the area. and right now the state department is working with embassies and consulates around the world, specifically in the middle east to protect american personnel. american facilities as we saw today, there was a vicious attack on the u.s. embassy in

cairo. a lot of jittery people at the state department. >> i know details are just coming out. but at this stage, do we have any idea where this individual was in the consulate? in the compound? and how he came to his death? any details coming out? >> we don't. we do know that there were several armed gunmen that had breached the consulate compound, it's a very small area, and there are not a lot of u.s. personnel and originally the state department and the embassy had received word from the libyans that this person was killed and they didn't have independent confirmation. but now the u.s. obviously in the death of an american citizen wants to see that for lack of a word, see that body themselves. see the person before they have to give that news to the family. so once they finally got that confirmation, they were able to confirm. we don't have details as of yet as to how this gentleman met his death. >> all right.

i know you are staying on top of this stories for us, appreciate it. thank you. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] break the grip of aches or arthritis pain

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just 56 days until the election, registered voters overwhelmingly say economic conditions are poor, but how does that break down? how do the candidates propose to fix it? we're showcasing the top five economic concerns that keep people up at night. we polled registered voters. last night we looked at number five, tonight we'll look at number four, which is taxes. many americans who own small businesses, ed hilabi spends a lot of time thinking and working about his tax bills. he owns a restaurant in jailsville, wisconsin, in a neighborhood where vice presidential candidate paul ryan grew up. here's what he tells us. >> i need a turkey sandwich in ten minutes, all right? what keeps me up as a businessman at night is that over 50% of the population isn't paying their fair share of

taxes. and big corporate america are finding loopholes created the by lobbyists, we, the small business people, the middle class people, we are taking the brunt of this expense to maintain our country. when i first hear that small businesses is the backbone of america, i always chuckle, and i say to myself, if he only knew the hardships that small businesses endure. so are we the backbone of this nation? maybe in theory we are, but we pay so much in taxes every month. we just have these bills that we have to pay. we can't tell the state or the federal government, the city, the municipal building, that we are not going to pay for our permits. my journey to the united states is a journey that i think many people aspire for. it's the country of milk and honey. i came from west africa, liberia, so i came to this country, worked for four years

in restaurants while i was paying my way through college. if i knew then what i know now, i would probably not go down that path, and just stay in a comfort zone of where you earn your paycheck week to week. did you like it, young man? >> yeah. >> we have a failed system. we, the small business people, we are tired of watching legislators stay there and argue and take naps and that political gridlock that we have going on within our government, it's stifling. the economy in america, the reason i'm successful in this business is because i put in seven days a week, 16-hour days. do the math, that's over 110 hours a week that i put in. i don't want my kids to grow up like that. >> national correspondent john king joins me now. dan lothian has been traveling with the president.

andrew accost kosis is here. we asked likely voters, which candidate would better handle taxes, what do the numbers say? >> president obama the democrat. at the moment, the president has the edge, a number of reasons why. when you ask voters among likely voters who went to college, 52% for president obama. we have to match those up as those who describe themselves as moderates. 58% describe themselves as moderates. they tend to live in the suburbs. in states like colorado, suburban voters often swing the election. this is an important advantage for the president as part of the economic debate. not all bad for governor romney. state of florida, more from our most recent poll. older voters tend to be more reliable. voters 50 years of age and older. again, more reliable voting group.

54% support governor romney on taxes as opposed to 42% for president obama. obviously, jobs number one part of the economy. on taxes, at the moment, an advantage for the president. >> governor romney has been criticized by fellow republicans for not laying out enough specifics in the tax plan, particularly which loopholes he would close. how has the campaign been responding to that? >> i can tell you mitt romney has suggested on a number of occasions he would limit the mortgage reductions for high-income earners and close loopholes to pay for the tax cuts. he has not specified as to how he would exactly do all of that. you're right, he has said these things, and his campaign not filled in the blanks. i can tell you over the weekend, paul ryan said something interesting. one explanation and that is they want to go to the congress in a romney administration and present a framework to lawmakers to come up with a plan that adheres to the principles that they lay out when they get to that point and try and implement the tax plan.

another reason mitt romney talked about himself and published interviews in "time" magazine. he has said, look, if he comes out and says these are the deductions i have to limit, he feels like he will set off a cottage industry of attacks coming after him. when places like the national tax policy center say, hey, wait a minute, if you don't come out with more specifics, you will assume you will blow a hole in the deficit or raise taxes on middle income americans. the romney campaign says they don't believe what that group is saying ability their about /* tax plan. >> we know president obama wants to raise taxes on incomes over $250,000 by allowing the bush tax cuts to expire. is that the main tenet of the tax plan? >> it is, anderson, the main component of the president's plan. that's why the president talks so much about it out on the campaign trail. saying it's good for middle

class americans, they'll be able to go out and purchase with the savings. he also emphasizes that wealthy americans, this is the time for them to pay their fair share. that is the maybe component, in addition, the president also wants to raise capital taxes to 20%. most pay 15%. and the president wants to cut the corporate tax rate, 35%, he wants to lower that to 28% on this, the president, and mitt romney do agree on but mitt romney wants to lower it more, anderson. >> another aspect of the debate, what effect both plans have on small business owners like the man we saw in the piece. how is the obama campaign trying to target small business owners out on the campaign trail? >> that's a good question because there's a lot of concern from small business owner that is they will under the president's plan see their taxes go up. when you hear the president say 97% of small businesses out

there would fall under that $250,000 a year threshold, so they would not see their taxes go up. in other words, only 3% of small businesses out there would see their taxes go up. the president has been emphasizing that these small businesses are the engine of the economic recovery, and so he says he wants to do as much as possible to help them get their businesses going. because if that happens, the entire economy will turn around. >> john, jim, thanks. coming up, remembering the victims of 9/11. a look at today's memorials when we come back. loves the access to tom's personal information. oscar's an identity thief who used tom's personal info to buy new teeth and a new car, and stuck tom with the $57,000 bill. [tires squeal] now meet carl who works from the coffee shop and uses the free wi-fi. marie works from there too.

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♪ o, say can you see >> today we remember a day that began like this, like so many others. a day like this one. a clear blue sky. a sky that would soon be filled with clouds of smoke and prayers of a nation shaken to its core. this is never an easy day, but it is especially difficult for all of you. the families of nearly 3,000 innocents who lost their lives. >> and my grandpa, raymond downey, you died doing what you loved doing, saving people's lives. i love you so much and so does nanny. >> no matter how many years pass, no matter how many times we come together on this hallowed ground, know this, you will never be alone. your loved ones will never be forgotten. >> and my big brother, luis jiminez jr., we miss you and love you. >> they will endure in the hearts of our nation.

because through their sacrifice, they helped us make the america we are today. ♪ for the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ >> we can visit the field of honor in pennsylvania and remember the heroes who made the sacred. >> here together is one family. we pause to honor and to pray and to remember 184 lives lost at the pentagon. >> you can see water cascading into the footprints of the twin towers and gaze up as a new tower rises above the new york skyline. >> and my sister, catherine

fairtax, mccrae. cat, mom, dad and i will always honor you and carry you with us. >> all these people gathered here today have not forgotten the heroism of your husbands, wives, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, and that what they did for this country is still etched in the minds of not only you but millions of americans forever. >> and my father. william edward matchuly, daddy, i was 9 months old when you passed away and i will love you forever. >> and even though we may never be able to fully lift the burden carried by those left behind, we know somewhere that a son is growing up without his father's eyes and a daughter has her

mother's laugh. living reminders that those who died are with us still.